Egypt reported its second human case of avian flu Sunday, and Israel continued its slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds while waiting to learn if the disease had spread to poultry there. A 30-year-old Egyptian who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya was the second person infected by the virus in Egypt, the Health Ministry said Sunday. The man, identified the man as Mohammed Bahaaeddin Abdel-Menem, was recovering in the hospital after being admitted Thursday with a fever, Deputy Health Minister Nasser el-Sayyed said. Ibrahim al-Gazzar, a cousin of the latest victim, said he doubted that other villagers were educated enough to seek medical treatment. "They would think it was a normal flu — that will be a disaster." Um Mohammed, a 35-year-old widow and mother of two, complained that although she had told authorities that her birds were dying, "They did nothing to help me." ... http://www.usatoday.com

A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees in northeastern Australia, tearing across the region on Monday with devastating winds that pinned emergency workers inside despite pleas from terrified residents. With winds up to 180 mph, Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into the coastal community of Innisfail, about 60 miles south of Cairns, a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef, sending hundreds of tourists and residents fleeing for higher ground, reports CBS News. Des Hensler, an Innisfail resident, sheltered alone in a church, up to his ankles in water. "I don't get scared much, but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots," he told the Seven television network. "There's a gray sheet of water, horizontal to the ground, and just taking everything in its path." ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/19/world/main1419446.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_1419446

Chinese President Hu Jintao likely will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase shipments of oil and gas to the world's most populous nation when Putin visits Beijing this week. Hu wants an $11.5 billion pipeline Russia is scheduled to start building this year from eastern Siberia to the Pacific coast port of Nakhoda to include a spur going into China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer. China is seeking to secure long-term supplies of oil and gas to underpin economic growth. Putin, ruler of the world's largest energy producer, may be willing to offer Hu some of what he wants in order to win Chinese military equipment orders and investment in Russian technology companies as part of an effort to diversify the nation's economy away from natural resources. ...http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a_NEmQ5rtqcE&refer=home

Three years ago tonight, the bombs started falling in Baghdad in advance of an American-led invasion — and today, rhetorical bombs continue to fly between opposing camps with very different views on the war's successes, its failures and its future.President Bush said today that the sacrifices that have been made — and the ones to come — will pay off for Iraq and America. "We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq," he said, "and a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come."But, in an interview on British television, the former prime minister of Iraq, Ayad Allawi, said his country already has descended into civil war."If this is not civil war," he told the British Broadcasting Corporation, "then God knows what civil war is."...http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/IraqCoverage/story?id=1744138&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

A former US army general yesterday called for Donald Rumsfeld to resign on grounds of incompetence in Iraq, hours after Ayad Allawi, the former US-backed Iraqi prime minister, declared the country to be in the thick of a civil war that could soon "reach the point of no return". Three years after Iraq was invaded, statistics published yesterday show that the frequency of insurgent bombings and group killings is growing, but both Mr Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, and George Bush have vowed to fight on. "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis," the defence secretary wrote in a Wash Post commentary, as the administration tried to quell growing concern that the conflict was unravelling beyond Washington's control.President Bush made a brief appearance on the White House lawn to say he was "encouraged" by progress on forming a unity government in Iraq. But he had no other good news to mark three years of a war ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1734831,00.html?gusrc=rss

Israel said tests showed the avian flu virus that infected poultry in the south of the country is the lethal H5N1 strain.Israel began culling flocks of turkeys and chickens in infected coops over the weekend after thousands of birds died at three farms. Officials said on Friday the avian flu had killed them but they were awaiting the results of laboratory tests to determine its strain. The Agriculture Ministry, in a posting on its Web site late on Sunday, said the tests showed that H5N1, a strain that has spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed at least 98 people worldwide since 2003, had reached Israel. It said further culling would be carried out at farms within a 3-km (2-mile) radius of the infected coops, the Agriculture Ministry said...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1744478